Tons of acorns!

[ad8bc]

I've lived in North Texas for going on five years now and we have an old oak tree in the back yard. I have never, never seen so many acorns! When the wind blows they sound like hail on the roof.

Could this just be a bumper year for acorns or do I have a stressed tree? Everything I've seen online about excessive acorn production being a sign of stress has talked about it being an early drop. Being as these are mature acorns and it's mid-November, I'm assuming it's just a "mast year".

 

[MacLaren]

Howdy pardner. Welcome to AS. I have no idea.

 

[ScoutmasterRick]

We are having an unusually heavy mast crop some places here in N. Alabama. In fact we are seeing some older oak trees dropping a lot of acorns that haven't produced significantly for 10-15 years.

 

[serial feller]

Had a lot in southern MO too.

 

[rmh3481]

We have had a good bit of rain this year, and I think that helps. Sounds like the trees are healthy.

 

[Storm56]

Zilch here in NE PA. Nada - Zip. If it is a hard winter, gonna be tough on the wildlife. They generally have the acorns to pack on some good fat for the winter, not this year. The deer are in people's yards eating grass every day, not a common site in our area. The grass may keep them alive but no way it builds up the fat reserves they need for the winter. Not looking good.

 

[Buckshot00]

Sign of a hard cold winter coming. The tree is fine.

 

[JRepairsK70e]

in the hudson valley nys we had a bumper crop of acorns last year ,this year pretty sparse but the hickorys were loaded makes no sense to me but the squirrels are getting nervous ,they harvested the hickorys last month now they are digging for acorns /and stashed hickorys still to warm to drive them to hibernate for the worst of the winter ,some lead poisoning might be warranted lol jk

 

[troythetreeman]

just happens that way sometimes
the older a tree gets the more seeds it tends to produce as well

 

[savageactor7]

I'm throwing in with the poster that says...'sometimes it just happens that way'. Thats been my observation too. Trees will respond to their environment...and every year is a little different. btw acorns are poisonous to humans, at least that's what my dad said.

 

[ScoutmasterRick]

I'm throwing in with the poster that says...'sometimes it just happens that way'. Thats been my observation too. Trees will respond to their environment...and every year is a little different. btw acorns are poisonous to humans, at least that's what my dad said.

The acorn crops seem to go in cycles around here. This is turning out to be an unusual bumper year.

Regarding edibility:
Acorns contain tannic acid. Amounts vary according to species. Around here white oaks generally have the lowest levels and are preferred by most wildlife species. Because of the tannic acid eating enough unprocessed acorns will cause kidney failure (besides being miserably bitter to the taste). However, some Native Americans learned to grind the acorns and treat them by repeated washing with water (sometimes leached through ashes for the added akalinity) to remove the acid. They would then make a flower that was used in cooking. Even today there are regions of the world where acorn flower is used in cooking, but again it requires processing to remove the tannic acid.

 

[serial feller]

:agree2:

Here's a little video showing how native Americans prepered acorns. If you look closely there is also some material for the peanut gallery!

[video=youtube;QEmZtqCCELk]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QEmZtqCCELk[/video]